London 2012 Olympics: Rebecca Adlington into 800m freestyle final

Rebecca Adlington is pledging to use her experience from bronze in the 400m freestyle to help defend her 800m title in London 2012 after she qualified for Friday night’s final.

Double Olympic champion Adlington took bronze in Sunday’s final, which she won in Beijing 2008, and was the fastest qualifier for tomorrow’s 800m final with 8:21.78 minutes.

And Adlington, world record holder in women’s 800m freestyle with 8:14.10 mins from Beijing, is not taking anything for granted as she bids to secure her fourth Olympic medal.

“I was ahead in the 400m heat and I only scraped in eighth and I decided I’m not going to take chances and give it all I’ve got,” said the 23-year-old, one of Team GB’s biggest medal hopes.

“I’ve now got a day’s rest and I’ve just got to rest up as much as I can.

“I didn’t know what to expect after the 400m and then the heat and everything so I’m so pleased with that [her heat result].”

Eleanor Faulkner’s time of 8:38.00 mins wasn’t enough to qualify for the final along with teammate Adlington, and the 19-year-old believes her London 2012 experience will make her stronger.

She said: “I just went out there to do the best I possibly could and today just wasn’t my day but I got in there and I think I raced it well.

“This is my first senior international and it’s just been an amazing experience to get out there and enjoy myself with the rest of the team.”

Steph Proud and Lizzie Simmonds secured their places in Thursday night’s 200m backstroke semi-finals in 11th and 14th place respectively.

Proud touched fourth in her heat with 2:10.01 mins to book her place in the semis along with team-mate Simmonds, who swam 2:10.37 mins, as both Brits progressed.

Meanwhile, the British male swimmers all saw their Olympic dreams end as Adam Brown, Michael Rock and Anthony James failed to advance from the heats.

Rock, who was second at the halfway stage of his 100m butterfly heat, fell away to seventh with 52.56 seconds to finish 20th overall.

Team-mate James also failed to advance from the 100m butterfly heats as he finished with 53.25 secs and ended the British involvement in the men’s competition.

And Brown’s 50m freestyle campaign ended at the first hurdle as he posted a time of 22.39 secs to finish 31st overall behind America’s Michael Phelps and Australia’s James Magnussen.

© Sportsbeat 2012

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